Long-term care insurance reduces financial burden for elderly households

A study in Health Economics provides strong evidence that public long‐term care insurance can vastly reduce the crushing financial burden of end‐of‐life health care. 

When investigators analyzed data on China's ongoing public long-term care insurance (LTCI) pilot program, which provides financial assistance and nursing services for disabled older adults needing long-term care, they found that the program cuts catastrophic health spending for elderly households by up to 52%-all without compromising health at the end-of-life. Instead, LTCI shifts care away from costly, aggressive medical interventions toward more effective long‐term support, reducing severe illness episodes and hospital stays, and dependency. 

These findings carry major implications for global aging societies, offering a powerful model for value‐based end‐of‐life care and the design of universal long‐term care system."

Bai Chen, PhD, corresponding author, Remin University of China